Second Chapter: on Pastes

Carrot Paste

Take a ratl of carrots, of which you have cleaned the interior. Cook it in a ratl of water, some two boilings, then take it off the fire and let it dry a little, over a sieve. Add it to three ratls of honey, cleaned of its foam, and cook all this until it takes the form of a paste. Then season it with ginger, galingale, cubeb and flowers [of clove? ], half an û qiya in all for each ratl. Eat it like a nut at meals. Its benefits: it fortifies coitus and increases desire beautifully; it is admirable.

Green Walnut Paste

Take a ratl of green walnuts and pierce them well with an iron skewer, then steep them in water for three days; take them out of the water and for each ratl take three of honey, cleaned of its foam, after cooking the nuts a little. Take them from the water and return them to the honey, and cook them until they take the form of a paste. Season with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, three quarters of an û qiya for each ratl, and eat it after meals. Its benefits: it excites the appetite and digests foods, heats the kidneys, and increases urine.

Quince Paste

Take a ratl of quince, cleaned of its seeds and cut into small pieces. Pound it well until it is like brains. Cook it with three ratls of honey, cleaned of its foam, until it takes the form of a paste. It is also made by another, more amazing recipe: take it as said before, and cook it in water alone until its essence comes out, clean the water of its sediments, and add it to as much sugar, and make it thin and transparent, without redness, and what you have made will remain in this state. Its benefits: it lightens the belly that suffers from bile, it suppresses bitterness in the mouth, and excites the appetite. And I say it keeps bad vapors from rising from the stomach to the brain.

Paste of Honeyed Roses

Take half a ratl of fresh roses and two ratls of honey; take the petals from the roses and scatter them in a ceramic cooking-pan; boil the honey on the fire and remove its foam; add the roses and boil it until it takes the aspect of a paste. Eat it like a nut at meals. Its benefits: for weak stomachs, for the liver, for the onset of dropsy of the lower belly, and it lightens the constitution moderately, God willing.

Violet Paste

Take a ratl of the flowers and three of honey, after removing its foam. Cook all this until it takes the form of a paste, and eat of it like a nut at meals. Its advantages: it counters dry coughs, softens the belly, cuts bilious thirst and cuts the bile that comes out, God willing.

Mint Paste

Take a ratl of green mint leaves and crush them gently; add three ratls of honey, cleaned of its foam, and blend it until it takes the form of a paste. Then season it with an û qiya of flower of cloves per ratl. Its benefits: it eases and aids against heaviness of the body and mind, aids in eardrum [? tabli: from the word for drum] dropsy, dissolves phlegm in the various parts of the body, strengthens the urine, and cuts vomit; it is good with sweet grains of anise, eaten with them or after them. It is beneficial, God willing.

[221]Tî qantast Paste

Take four û qiyas of its outermost skin, after peeling it with iron knives, then pound it gently and cook it in water to cover; then add it to a ratl of honey, cleaned of its foam, and thicken it until it takes the form of a paste. Eat of it like a nut at meals. It benefits...[one word missing]... dissolves phlegm in various parts of the body, awakens the appetite to eat, makes urine flow, aids in dropsy, and lightens the constitution mildly. In this it is admirable, God willing.

[222]Qirsa'nat Paste

Take a ratl of its skin, peeled on the outer part, and pound it well, cook it in water to cover, and then add it to three ratls of honey, cleaned of its foam. Thicken it until it takes the form of a paste, then season it with...[three lines missing]... four û qiyas of cinnamon, cloves, Chinese cinnamon, and Indian spikenard, an û qiya of each. Pound all this and add it to two ratls of sugar dissolved in some rosewater, and cook it until it takes the form of a paste, and then melt it in four mithqâ ls of musk. Its advantages: it digests the food and clears the head, dissolves phlegm in the head, aids in all mild coughs, provokes urine and menstruation. Eat of it, like a nut, at meals.

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